The most common mistake we see on a first order is not a wrong length or a wrong colour. It is skipping the sample entirely and going straight to bulk.
It happens often enough that it is the single thing we would change about how new buyers approach us. This page covers how our sample orders work, and what to do with the hair once it arrives.
Why buyers skip it, and what it costs
The reasoning is always the same and it is not unreasonable: a sample costs money and adds a week, the photographs look right, the specification matches, so why not order the quantity and start selling.
What that skips is the only question a sample answers. Not “is this hair good” — that is visible in photographs. The question is “is this what will arrive when I order forty pieces in three months”, and nothing except holding a sample from ordinary stock tells you that.
A buyer who orders in bulk first has not saved a week. They have moved the risk from one piece to the whole order.
How sample orders work
| Price | The listed product price. Samples are not discounted. |
|---|---|
| Payment | Paid in full up front. |
| Turnaround | Around 7 days from cleared payment to dispatch. |
| Quantity | Any single piece. The 4-piece-per-SKU minimum applies to bulk orders, not samples. |
| Shipping | DDP, the same as any order. Duties are paid by us. |
Why we do not send free samples
Plenty of suppliers will, and it is worth understanding what you are being given.
A free sample is selected by the supplier, from stock the supplier chose, at a moment the supplier controls. It shows you their best hair. A paid sample comes out of the same stock a real order would.
That is the entire point of sampling: not the best case, the normal case.
What a good sample enquiry looks like
We can usually tell within one message whether a buyer has done this before, and the signal is not technical knowledge.
Experienced buyers open by telling us who their end customer is — salon clients wanting length, a retail audience buying online, a specific market with a specific texture preference. Then they ask what suits that.
Buyers who open with “what is your price” without saying what they need cannot be quoted accurately, because price depends on product mix, and they usually cannot choose well either, because the choice depends on the customer.
If you are new to this, the useful thing to send us is a description of who you sell to. The product recommendation follows from that.
What to order
Ordering one piece of one thing tells you the hair is acceptable. It tells you nothing about consistency, which is the property that decides whether you can build a business on a supplier.
- Same texture, three lengths. Shows how length is graded and whether density holds as length increases.
- Same length, two textures. Shows whether processing is consistent across the range.
If you are sampling extensions rather than bundles, settle the attachment method before you choose a SKU, because the method decides what is worth testing. Our guide to the seven methods matches each one to a client’s hair density.
If you already know your market, order the SKU you expect to sell most. Read our length guide first if you are unsure, because length mix is usually the decision that costs the most to get wrong.
The five tests, and who actually runs them
Here is the part worth being direct about: experienced buyers run these tests. New buyers almost never do.
That gap is most of the difference between the two groups. A new buyer receives a sample, looks at it, feels it, decides it seems fine, and places the bulk order. An experienced buyer spends an hour across a few days and learns things the first buyer will discover three months later with forty pieces of stock.
None of this needs equipment beyond a kitchen scale and ordinary salon supplies.
1. Wash it five times
Sulfate-free shampoo, air dry, repeat. Acid-bathed hair that has been silicone-coated survives one or two washes convincingly, then goes coarse and starts matting. Very little survives five. This one test eliminates more bad suppliers than the other four together.
2. Check cuticle direction
Run your fingers down the strand root to tip, then back up. Aligned cuticles feel smooth downward and slightly rough upward. If both directions feel identical, the cuticle has been stripped.
3. Bleach a small section
Take a piece from the end and lift it. Virgin hair lifts evenly. Hair with a previous colour history goes patchy, turns orange in places, or breaks down.
4. Weigh it dry
A bundle sold at 100g should weigh 100g dry, not damp. Underweight bundles are the quietest way margin gets taken in this trade, and a scale is the only way to see it.
5. Look at the ends
Single drawn hair thins toward the ends because strands are different lengths. Double drawn is close to even top to bottom. Neither is wrong, but they are different products at different prices, and you should know which one you received.
What buyers tell us they did not expect
The thing new buyers most often remark on when a sample arrives is not the colour or the length. It is how the hair smells and feels.
Hair that has been acid-bathed and silicone-coated has a particular slick, over-smooth hand and a chemical note to it. Most buyers coming from that product have only ever handled coated hair, so untreated hair feels unfamiliar — less slippery, more like hair growing on a head.
It is a small thing and it is the detail people mention most, which is why it is worth telling you to expect it rather than letting you wonder whether something is wrong.
Keep the sample
Put it in a labelled bag with the order date and never sell it.
It is your reference for every future order. When a bulk shipment feels different you have something to compare against instead of a memory, and a supplier who knows you kept the approved sample handles a complaint differently.
After the sample
If the hair passes, a first bulk order starts at 4 pieces per SKU with a 30-50% deposit. Full terms are on our wholesale page, and our quality control page covers what we reject and where.
If it fails, tell us why. We would rather hear that the bleach test went patchy than never hear from you again.
To order, send us the product, texture and length you want — or just tell us who you sell to and we will suggest where to start. Contact us and we will confirm the price and dispatch date.